Reclining seat backs are increasingly popular in motor vehicles. When employed in two-door motor vehicles, the latch mechanisms for such seat backs must positively latch the seat back against both undesired rearward and undesired forward pivotal movement relative to the seat cushion.
With respect to reclining movement, manually operated reclining latch structures for holding the seat back in a desired reclining position are known. However, such known manually operated latches are generally unsatisfactory in that they latch only at incremental reclining positions or, if infinitely adjustable, are heavy and cumbersome and relatively expensive. To overcome this situation the reclining latch mechanism of the instant invention is infinitely adjustable, fool-proof in operation, and of simple and inexpensive construction.
With respect to forward movement of the seat back, normally open emergency latches have been heretofore proposed which latch upon rapid deceleration of the vehicle. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,979. Preferably however, the emergency latch for the seat back is normally latched so as to eliminate the time lag between the advent of deceleration and lockup. It is also desirable to provide means to automatically open the emergency latch to permit forward movement of the seat back to facilitate entry to the back seat of the vehicle when the vehicle is not subject to deceleration forces.